


Here at the Right Time

by cruelest_month



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Outbound Flight - Timothy Zahn, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Star Wars: Thrawn Trilogy - Timothy Zahn
Genre: Alien Character(s), Alien Culture, Alternate Universe - Canon, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-18
Updated: 2012-02-18
Packaged: 2017-10-31 09:58:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/342724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cruelest_month/pseuds/cruelest_month
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jorj Car'das learns that life is more interesting with a Chiss than without one. An AU of sorts taking place after the events of Timothy Zahn's <span class="u">Outbound Flight</span>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from a Josh Ritter song with the same name. 
> 
> I've tried to give this a pretend plot, but it's mostly about guys getting together in space. Even so, I've had to look a lot of stuff up, do some research, and improvise. And it's been fun. So far the time period it will span leads up to Thrawn's exile and possibly after wards. Because.
> 
> One of the more AU aspects if also the time frame this takes place in. Anakin is about the age he was in the last of the Star Wars prequels and not a young padawan as he was in Outbound Flight.

Seeing Quennto and Maris off had only give Car’das more time to think and grow apprehensive as he considered what little possessions he’d taken off the _Bargain Hunter_. He didn’t feel particularly sad to part with his crew though he would miss both of them. He ought to have been excited, really.

Instead he found himself replaying old conversations in his mind and hesitating in the docking bay. A few minutes later, he was walking directly past the shuttle he was meant to board and down long gleaming halls until he arrived at back at Forward Visual One.

Thrawn stood at ease with both hands behind his back. Eyes were scouting the stars, seeing more than Jorj would ever see, but the Corellian found he preferred that Thrawn didn’t look at him just yet. He was having a hard enough time organizing his thoughts without red eyes boring into his dull brown ones.

“One farewell was insufficient?” the commander asked in a mildly interested tone. As if this too was something he had foreseen while gazing out into the dark of space.

“When you listed my skills, you said… that you admired them too.”

Thrawn raised an eyebrow. “Yes. I admire all of your qualities.”

“Do you think I should take this job?”

The commander turned his gaze away from the panel in front of him and considered Car’das.

“You said I have the gifts for such a job,” Car’das pointed out. “And when I explained why I’d accept the offer to Quennto and Farasi, all I could think of to say was I figured it was a good idea because you trust him.”

Thrawn smiled thinly. “I am pleased that you value my opinion so highly.”

“Then tell me. Is this really what I should be doing?”

“I cannot make that decision for you, Jorj.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

“Then what are you asking for?”

“Maybe this is a lot to take in. I think I just need someone else to tell me what they think of the whole thing without worrying about how I’ll react. Or a this is for the good of the whole Republic spiel tossed in.”

“Very well. I think it would be a good position for you if you are willing to focus and train. You are fully capable of being of—”

“What if I turn him down?”

Thrawn frowned minutely. “You can do as you like although I hardly see the point in rejecting the offer out of hand or on a mere whim. I cannot recall you speaking of Hutts with any particular fondness.”

“No one speaks of Hutts with any particular fondness.”

Thrawn shrugged. “Then surely you realize what this position will afford you in terms of status and connections. You’re too young to be completely lacking in ambition.”

“I have plenty of ambition. That’s not the problem.”

The Commander’s expression softened a bit. “Then what is the problem?”

“What if I wanted…” Car’das cursed under his breath.

Thrawn waited.

Grumbling, the Corellian managed to get more words out. “What if I liked these last five weeks, okay? Because I liked them. A lot.”

“I should hope that you did,” the Chiss admitted. “I rather enjoyed them myself.”

“It gets worse,” Car’das insisted.

“Does it.”

“I’m positive that teaching you what little I can and learning from you interests me more than becoming the head of an information ring.”

“I am intensely flattered, of course, but—”

“Not flattered. We talked about this.”

Thrawn nodded. “Touched then.”

Car’das considered this. “Touched enough to let me stay?”

Thrawn inhaled sharply and looked back out into space. Nothing about his posture had changed too drastically, but even in the dim lighting in the compact room, Car’das could see there was stiffness in his shoulders. The line of his jaw had tightened too. 

“I would say that I often find myself questioning why anyone would stay here,” he said in Basic, clearly unable to voice the opinion in Cheunh or even in Sy Bisti.

“I didn’t mean here specifically,” Car’das said. “I’m not staying for the view. Or for your people. I’d stay because—”

“I also wonder about my decision to speak to you and only you first,” Thrawn continued as if Car’das hadn’t spoken.

“Oh?”

“There were many factors that should have led me to that decision, but they were merely additional incentives. I could tell you that the notion behind my fixation was simply to put your Captain in his place or that I sensed that you were new to your role on board the _Bargain Hunter_. But my motives were far from complex.”

“I had a hard time lying and you were curious. I was curious. It’s fine.”

Thrawn shook his head.

“No?”

“I was drawn to you. Not because you seemed clever, slow, smart, stupid, curious, dull, or any other adjective. I was simply… interested. You need to know this if you choose to stay.”

Car’das blinked and laughed in spite of himself. “Do you think I want to stay because I want to improve my Cheunh that badly?”

Thrawn’s gaze was intense and nearly hostile, but Car’das recognized it as a protective gesture. The Chiss did not like being laughed at. “I am sure I do not know why you wish to stay.”

“Back when you told your men that I was your prisoner, my first thought was that you’d betrayed me somehow. Which is a crazy notion considering you were merely stating a fact, but it’s hard to think badly of the guy who teaches you the difference between trade merchant and fishing boat. It was hard not to like you. Then all of a sudden, I wasn’t sure you meant anything that you’d said. I couldn’t decide what you were manipulating me into believing and what the truth was.”

Thrawn sighed. “I was merely acting in our mutual best interest.”

“Just listen. That was the position I was in, but now I’m not anymore. Right now I don’t have to go anywhere I don’t want to go.”

“Such is the definition of freedom as I’m given to understand.”

“Then why am I here?”

Thrawn was silent.

“Logically, I must I want to be here if I’m here. And then who is the only person here right now? You.”

“What if I had not been here?”

“I would have kept looking for you.”

Thrawn’s brow furrowed.

“I don’t have to be a genius to figure out there’s clearly some unfinished here. For me or for you. Either way this makes things a bit confusing. Because if that’s all true, then why am I going back to straight to the center of the Republic to get a job I don’t want with people I don’t really know or want to know?”

“You don’t know me all that well either.”

“That’s different,” Car’das explained. “I want to know you. Besides, time isn’t what determines how well you know a person. I only knew Maris and Quennto for six months.”

“They were your crew, and they were not situated quite a distance away from your planet. My people may not be actively hostile towards your system or your government, but we are hardly likely to visit your world. Nor can I imagine sending you back to it on a regular basis.”

“That doesn’t bother me.” Not enough to stop him from wanting to stick around the one Chiss he did know.

“You really would make up your mind as easily as that,” Thrawn mused. “You could honestly give up a perfectly good position and remain with an alien race you know next to nothing about to continue to educate me about your languages and customs.”

“Not just that. I want to see what else you do. What else you become. Naturally curious, remember?” Car’das pointed out. “Besides, I doubt I’ll be the first Corellian to pass up a great deal to pursue something potentially more frivolous or dangerous.” Or the last.

“Perhaps not.” Thrawn eyed Car’das thoughtfully for what seemed like an eternity. “Are you typical of your people?”

“Probably,” Car’das admitted. “Anyway, I guess I’ll have to go explain myself first. So I might as well hitch a ride back. I have some things to take care of and I should stop home, but basically I want to stay here.”

“Then you hardly need my permission, Jorj, but you have my approval.”

Car’das grinned, feeling a little less out of sorts than before. “Is this where we do something besides stand here in the dark and talk?”

The Chiss shook his head. “Tempting as that offer is, you should decide for yourself if this is really what you want.”

Car’das kept himself from telling Thrawn that he was pretty slow on the uptake for such a tactical genius, but maybe the commander needed time to analyze the new data he’d been presented with.

He imagined Thrawn wasn’t typically voicing his interest in others leaving him with little idea of what to make of rejection or acceptance. Maybe he had never been interested in his own kind who couldn’t have thought too highly of someone who wanted to leap and bound ahead when the rules and customs clearly dictated that one waddled through life and through battles. Or maybe Thrawn wasn’t too pleased to find that he had such an active interest in pale aliens from Corellia with black hair and bland eyes that couldn’t pinpoint ships without sensors. 

“You want to take this slow,” Car’das murmured. “Fine. We can take it slow.”

Thrawn snorted. “Certainly not,” he said, keeping his glowing eyes focused out the window. “I merely need you to be certain of what you’re doing before I put this dim lighting and pleasant view to better use.”

“Nothing’s certain.”

“You need to understand that I am serious then.”

Car’das blinked. “I don’t mind.”

“You might,” Thrawn murmured, looking over his shoulder. His eyes were narrowed focused on Car’das. As the stare continued only to intensify, the Corellian found himself turning a faint shade of crimson. “I am willing to let you go and I hardly would intend to keep you here by force if you leave now. But if you stay, then I mean to have you. Completely.”

“Oh.”

Thrawn looked away.

Car’das wasn’t sure if this was supposed to trouble him or not. He did know, however, that he was intrigued and perhaps more so than Thrawn had intended. Was the Chiss really that interested underneath that gloomy and chilly albeit handsome exterior? He certainly sounded that way. 

But they remained as distant physically from one another as ever. Car’das wasn’t sure what to do with his hands, but he was fairly certain he wasn’t supposed to touch Thrawn at the moment even if the gesture he intended to make was simply one of reassurance. He wanted to know what the Chiss was thinking and wished he could just transmit his interest from his brain to the other man’s without having to actually confess aloud that being had completely was perfectly acceptable. 

It was a shame that he wasn’t as easy for Thrawn to interpret as Thernbee mud painting might have been. Not that Car’das tended to liken his physical appearence to a Thernbee mud painting, but the analogy would work in a pinch.

“Is that supposed to send me running for the nearest shuttle?” he eventually asked when it became quite clear that the Chiss was going to remain mute.

Thrawn shrugged stiffly.

“Look. There’s something we do back where I’m from when we’re interested in someone. I think the two of us should give that a try.”

Thrawn turned around with a stony, resigned expression on his face.

“So I’m just going to do this and then I’m going to go. And I’ll come back.” He paused, gauging Thrawn’s reaction and not getting much for his troubles. 

“If that’s all right with you?” Car’das prompted.

“Very well.”

Kissing Thrawn was sort of like kissing a very blue, very tense statue, but Car’das didn’t actively dislike the experience even if he had to lean up to reach the Chiss’ face. He had been expecting Thrawn’s lips to be a little cold somehow if only because the Commander’s demeanor had been so frigid, but they radiated subtle, comfortable warmth.

Somewhere in the middle of the kiss, right as Car’das was starting to think Thrawn had only meant that he was serious about his linguistic studies and overly particular about his tutors, Thrawn thawed a bit and returned the gesture. His blue hands wandered over the Corellian’s hips and up his sides as the Chiss added his tongue to the kiss.

The need for oxygen turned one kiss into several, and Thrawn took over with Car’das following his lead, relishing the feel of cool fingers clutching at him as he was pressed up against the glass panel that had originally been in front of them.

Far too soon, Car’das was released and the other man was staring at him with a bemused expression on his features as if he was in the process of sorting out a very complicated battle stratagem.

“Um. So that’s all.”

“This custom is hardly unique to your people,” Thrawn wryly observed.

Car’das colored slightly before smiling when Thrawn touched his cheek, tracing cool fingers over the back of his neck. “No, I guess not.”

“That said, I appreciate your enthusiasm and eagerly await your return.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

Kinman Doriana did not seem particularly displeased or even distressed by Car’das’ refusal. If anything a strange light seemed to enter his eyes when Car’das mumbled that he planned on returning to work for Thrawn. He patted the younger man on the shoulder, and eagerly offered him a ride to Courscant regardless. 

“Your work with Thrawn could prove invaluable,” the older man said over one of the overly long dinners they shared together. Dinners that Car’das couldn’t very well decline, but didn’t particularly enjoy since he spent them sitting on one end of the table watching the Kinman stare at him as if he was now an even more valuable asset than he would have been before. 

“I don’t think the Chiss as a whole are particularly eager to even sign up with the Trade Federation let alone the Republic.” 

Doriana dismissed this concern with a wave of his hand. “There is much we could learn from the Chiss, I suppose, but the commander would be of more immediate use.”

“I don’t think… That is, I doubt he’d be willing to completely abandon his people.”

“All things considered, I think it unlikely that he will be the one to do the abandoning,” Doriana mused. “At any rate, you will prove your usefulness just as easily circling around Crustai as you might at the capital.”

“Gee thanks,” Car’das said.

“There is more,” the Kinman murmured after dinner plates were cleared. “You will be interacting with a hitherto unknown and undiscovered race. To that end, I’m willing to have a number of resources at your disposal. Although you and I are both aware of his intelligence and remarkable abilities, there is still much you can teach to the Commander. 

“I don’t know if that’s such a great idea. He’ll probably learn way more than you want him to.”

“Why should I wish for him to remain ignorant when it is likely that all he learns will inevitably benefit the Republic?” Doriana asked before smiling. “That reminds me. He mentioned that he enjoyed art and you should bring some back with you as well.”

“Don’t make this into more than it is,” Car’das argued, not comfortable with the idea of representing such a large organization or assuming some oddly political role. 

He was strongly reminded of family get-togethers and the inevitable lecture about how Jorj was wasting his life consorting with criminals when he could have been a professor, a statesman, or an anthropologist studying intelligent winged creatures that lived off of lunar dust and communicated slowly through head bobs in a system far away for a week or two at a time before scurrying back home. Anything but a selfish kid who wanted to visit distant worlds and enjoy life. Maybe he should have opted to remain a smuggler. 

“Honestly. I’m not going back to be an ambassador or some sort of cultural attaché. So I appreciate the offer but—”

The Kinman studied him thoughtfully with dark green eyes. He ran a hand over his balding head and smiled again. “Surely you do not mean to rely entirely on the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force for hospitality or transportation. Should anything go wrong, I think you will appreciate the invaluable assistance I can provide. Or the Supreme Chancellor for that matter. I realize Thrawn is… well, shall we say a new and intimate friend of yours?”

Car’das tensed a bit but the Kinman continued gazing benignly in the younger man’s direction, sipping at his drink and leaning back in his chair.

“Ah, Jorj. Palpatine does not care why you go back and neither do. We only care that you are welcomed in places where the Republic is not. And that I remain informed.” 

Car’das pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “No. I can’t spy for you.” 

“Calmly listen if you please,” the Nabooian said. “However loosely informed is up to you. All I’m asking is that should Thrawn decide to seek us out, well, you will have already painted us in a positive light. And you would work to facilitate the meeting with the Senator. You will need contacts to fall back on, and you know just as well as I do that he will need contacts of any kind in the event that something goes awry.”

“You make it sound like it is only a matter of time.”

“It is.”

For the rest of the trip, Car’das spent most of his time reviewing what little Cheunh he could pronounce and contemplating banging his head against the ship’s hull as Doriana continued to prattle on about Thrawn. He wasn’t sure how the Chiss had become some kind of new blue hope so quickly.

The point Doriana stressed the most was that should Thrawn decide to leave or be forced to move on from his home world and her backward-thinking people behind, the Kinman was to be contacted immediately.

Car’das eventually accepted a small ship to take back to Coreilla and then back to Crustai, a large collection of art holograms, and various forms of contact information as well as devices to input the said information into. He told himself it was really just to get the man to give it a rest, although it was more than that. He could probably use the contacts and he certainly could use a human eye being kept on him in case things got dicey or in case he was wrong about Thrawn and was only going to end up in a similar situation as before. 

But he made sure to stress that he couldn’t make promises where Thrawn was concerned. Car’das didn’t think he was in charge or control of anything at this point, a frustrating realization but a fact of life.

He was less anxious and irritated once he was off on his own again even if his task in Coruscant was hardly an enjoyable one. Lorana Jinzler had asked for a favor, and it was a promise Car’das was willing to keep. 

All the same, he kept his conversation with Dean Jinzler as brief as possible and was relieved when it ended. The young man would tell his family, and Car’das could only hope the parents would care more than their son. Whatever their differences had been, he could not understand Dean’s unwillingness to forgive. Perhaps it would just take time to heal the rift. Either way, it wasn’t any of Car’das’ business. He didn’t know Dean and truthfully didn’t care on too personal a level about Lorana’s passing. He could not and would not lecture Dean on the way he was choosing to grieve. Car’das wasn’t like Maris, and he had enough problems of his own.

He thought about Thrass instead as he got the ship ready for hyperspace and the trip to his home system. More than likely, Thrass was also dead and gone seeing as there was no reason to suspect that the young Jedi had survived whatever fate had befallen the Outbound Flight. Thrawn would take the news without Dean’s hostile, warped rage, but even with a mutual love and respect between them, nothing would make Thrass’ passing any easier to bear. It occurred to him then that Thrawn probably hadn’t been looking for new threats or enemy activity while situated in Forward Visual. He’d been looking for his brother. 

Once he arrived on Corellia, Car’das made an effort to speak to his family, because that’s what good Corellians boys and girls did. He found himself keeping the conversation short and to the point. His mother seemed indifferent until the Chiss and art was mentioned. Then she kept reminding him about how well he used to draw. And urging him to write a book or somehow use this as field study for an actual degree, which was more embarrassing than anything else. 

The grand conclusion to his lackluster smuggling career seemed to come as a relief to his father. They seemed disappointed that he was finding work out of the system and only marginally curious when he mentioned taking a position in Coruscant. It was the first time he had lied so completely to either one of them, but somehow he couldn’t explain Thrawn. Not without explaining everything else. 

How could he tell his aging parents that he’d met an alien race called the Chiss, been kept as a prisoner on a base in a system they’d never heard of, helped defeat the Vagarri, and then turned down at offer from Kinman Doriana himself to go back to his former captor? 

He knew what they would say and just how angry his stoic father would become. Car’das could just picture the heartbreak on his mother’s worn face. Not that his family argued. Corellians didn’t argue. All the same, it wasn’t worth it. In the end, it would be far better if they thought he was working far away and was simply too busy to ever return their calls on time. He could work something out to keep them from ever knowing exactly where he was. For now.

The more he thought about his experiences, the more he figured going back was a completely irrational decision. Even more so if he couldn’t even tell his family where he was going, but it was one he planned on making without any lingering regrets. And if he hadn’t been completely honest about missing Corellia, well, it was just one of the many necessary falsehoods he’d been handing out for the sake of other people. Thrawn hardly needed to know just how attached Car’das was to the place anymore than his parents needed to know about Thrawn.

After a few days, he found himself missing Cheunh or even speaking to others in Sy Bisti. He did not, however, find that he missed his crew too much. He could picture them fighting already over the pros and cons of smuggling enough to make a profit with Maris wanting to play hero everywhere they went.

He thought about Thrawn a great deal. Mostly, of course, about his lips and black uniform and what doubtlessly lay beneath it. As well as ways to get to the point of actually seeing Thrawn out of said CEDF uniform.

As a result, Car’das spent most of his time in Kor Vella, visiting the tourist attractions and the library, gathering up more holograms of art and information on various planets for Thrawn. He wanted more than simply hand-me-downs from well-meaning politicians and mothers. Besides, they needed to understand one another a bit better since clearly Thrawn didn’t realize how easily Jorj could be moved from location A to location B without a star chart, and art seemed to provide the Chiss with some strange insight into people. Car’das could hardly see similarities between himself and primitive flame sculptures, but perhaps the Commander would.

In terms of his own supplies, all Car’das had really needed was some furniture that hadn’t been built with a Chiss in mind as its sole user.

Shortly before leaving, Doriana sent along more holograms of artwork. Shifting through them via remote control, all the Corellian felt was a great deal of announce. Statues from Alderaan, angry battle scenes dated back to before the fall of the Rakatan Infinite Empire, an oranate replica of an Ithorian floating city, leaf etchings from Kashyyk, Mandolorian skull-shaped vases made from the volcanic ash from the planet Tracyn… And every single piece of it would require days of explanations on Car’das’ part. 

The last gift or bribe or waste of time arrived in a crate: some rare sculpture that circled slowly around itself in small spirals. It had been stolen from another alien race the Republic knew little about. The vid accompanying the item casually hinted that the Senator would be very interested in talking about the item in question should Thrawn learn anything and care to share his findings.

The only satisfaction that Car’das could derive from all of the nonsense that he was expected to cart around was the knowledge that even if these politicians were going to try to manipulate Thrawn, they were more likely to find themselves manipulated in the end.

“Will you need anything else?” his mother had asked somewhat anxiously when it was time for him to leave.

He shook his head. Then kissed her cheek before shaking hands with his father. 

“You could come home more often.”

“I’ll try.”

And that was about all he was going to get from them until he did something worthwhile like settling down or earning some stripes. 

-

While the ship was docking, a wave of uncertainly seemed to slam into Car’das and made his movements sluggish. He thought about leaving, but that required permission from the flight deck and probably Thrawn himself. Adding a level of embarrassment to his discomfort wouldn’t help matters.

He found himself staring at all of the idiotic items he’d been given by the Supreme Chancellor via Kinman Doriana. What was he doing really besides being sent off to the middle of nowhere with distractions for a Chiss commander that clearly were meant to convince him to visit the rest of the galaxy and work for the Republic? And how was he any less of an incentive than the holograms he’d been instructed to bring with? Worse than that. He’d even brought additional samples of artwork without instruction or authorization. Hell, he’d even made taken a handful of the holograms on his own while visiting that one monastery in Kor Valla. 

“Terrific, he muttered. “So the final verdict is that I’m brainwashed _and_ paranoid. How does that work?”

He braced himself and walked down, back into the base. The Chiss warriors that greeted him weren’t particularly unfriendly. One of them was even remotely familiar, but he’d been one of the two to overhear Thrawn’s remarks about his translator and prisoner, which didn’t endear him to the Corellian by any means.

 _Idiot, idiot, idiot. You are such an idiot_ , was Jorj’s manta as he stalked down the corridors. Two men followed him at a respectful distance, used to his presence and not restricting his movements. _You can’t handle Hutts or politicians because they’re slimey, but one Chiss gets you alone in a room and stares at you with compelling red eyes and you opt to be his pet translator for life._

“Is your commander even around?” he asked after awhile in Sy Bisti. He had already decided not to try asking for anything in Cheunh. He’d probably ask to be shown to the dungeon or an asteroid field instead.

“Yes,” one replied. “You must come this way.”

The other snorted in amusement but said nothing as they walked back the way they’d came.

To Car’das’ extreme mortification, Thrawn was standing right next to his ship’s platform. The Chiss smiled gently, perhaps trying to gauge whether Jorj had temporarily come down with some sort of space-related sickness or not.

“Hello again,” Thrawn said in Basic and Car’das could have kissed him for that small kindness. His men could only remain at parade rest looking perplexed. “You seemed so determined to visit the southeast corridor that I didn’t have the heart to stop you.”

“Yeah. Um. Nice architecture over there. I guess.”

An eyebrow went up as Thrawn switched to Sy Basti. “Really. Would you like your belongings to be unloaded now?”

“Sure.”

“See to it,” he said to the row of men behind him. They were dressed in burgundy instead of the black uniforms Car’das had gotten used to, but since he wasn’t a prisoner, his stuff probably didn’t require much of an investigation. 

Once they’d moved on, Thrawn put an arm around Car’das’ shoulders. “Come. I might as well show you to my quarters while they finish working on yours.” 

A few turns later and they were alone. Car’das sighed heavily before rubbing his forehead. “Sorry about that.”

“I find your inability to come to terms with any given situation to be quite charming.”

“That’s great.”

“I also find it remarkable that you only panicked after you returned to my base and even so the first person you went looking for was me.”

“Yeah, well… That’s me. Cute and clever with all the worldly charm of a little lost bantha.”

“I have no idea what that means,” Thrawn calmly observed. 

Car’das laughed. “I know. That’s what I like about you.”

The Chiss smiled ever so slightly. “It pleases me to see you, Jorj.”

“I told you I’d come back.”

“That you did,” Thrawn agreed, giving Car’das’ shoulder a meaningful squeeze. They stopped outside of a large door, and the Chiss tugged him closer before kissing him as it slid open. 

“I imagine humans are eager to let others know about their interest or claim to a particular person,” Thrawn said as they walked further into the room. “Quennto, for example, seemed to dislike anyone noticing Fersai and failing to take him into account as a potential threat.”

There were a large number of consoles, some sort of elaborate table with either a puzzle or game in progress, and a decent amount of furniture. It was excessively large for one Chiss and had dimmer lighting than any other place on the ship that Car’das had seen outside of Visual Forward.

He wasn’t sure what to make of the art on the walls. All of it tasteful, Car’das thought it all seemed strangely drab and relatively dull. Dark blue and shades of grey on a carbon black canvas. Maybe it did more for a Chiss than it ever would for a human.

“I don’t mind who else knows as long as I know you’re interested.”

Thrawn considered this and tilted his head. “Should I have kissed you upon your arrival?”

Car’das tried to picture the reaction of Thrawn’s subordinates. He eventually gave up on it, and shook his head. “No. Although it might have prevented me from wandering around sulking.”

“I myself prefer discretion. It has nothing to do with shame, you understand. I simply do not enjoy being stared at nor would I care to subject you to the ignorance of my subordinates.”

“Honestly, it’s fine. I wouldn’t want to get you into trouble.”

Thrawn laughed. “I do not mind trouble. All the same, it would not be prudent for me to go out of my way to alert others to my relationship with you at this juncture.”

“What’s going on?”

Thrawn shrugged, before sitting down on a long couch near the door. “I am continuing to support my ideals and my people are continuing to dislike it. Conflict is regrettable but inevitable.”

“There’s no chance of them coming to understand or appreciate your perspective?”

“Doubtful,” Thrawn said. “The other Ruling Families will likely visit from time to time hoping to catch me behaving in some unseemly fashion in order to demote or exile me.”

“About that.”

“You needn’t worry about Kinman Doriana’s overzealousness. He believes that I would never consider leaving my people without the proper incentives, and I am quite content to let him go on believing this to be the case.”

Car’das wasn’t sure how Thrawn had figured all of that out, but he supposed there was no point being surprised. The Chiss was very, very perceptive and quite intelligent, after all.

“Okay, but what if you get exiled?” he asked.

“I will be placed on an uninhabited world. As is the custom.”

“This happens often?”

Thrawn shrugged. “I am not the first to reject the need for such enforced isolation or reluctance to engage enemies in battle.”

“Why can’t you just leave?”

“That would not be possible.”

Car’das frowned.

“Or rather,” Thrawn murmured, “it would not be honorable. I cannot forsake my people outright. They would never forgive me. If this decision seems cowardly… well, I will not make excuses for myself. It is how I feel.”

He touched Thrawn’s arm briefly. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.” 

Thrawn nodded stiffly, and Car’das went back to looking back around the room. “I realize the artwork does little for the human eye, but do you like the layout at least?” the Chiss asked.

“Sure. It seems like the sort of room you’d have.”

“We can make whatever necessary judgments that you deem fit.”

Car’das smiled. “Aw. You don’t have to change your room for me.”

Thrawn returned the smile. “It seems only fitting since this is where you’ll be staying.”

“Then… But aren’t these… What about seeing your quarters?”

Thrawn laughed. “These are my quarters.” 

Car’das blinked. “Oh.”

“Don’t look so scandalized. You can hardly expect me to want you and yet to have you remain out of reach at the same time. I did explain this to you before you left.”

“Uh. Not really.”

The commander simply smirked and held out a hand. “I can work to clarify the matter later, if you like. Officially your rooms will be adjacent to mine and certainly there is no need for you to ignore the suite completely. You’ll have access to the same computer privileges as before to begin with, but I will not monitor your communications. I hope that you speak freely with the Kinman and with the Supreme Chancellor as well if that is your wish.”

Car’das couldn't imagine that either man would want to talk to him about anything outside of Thrawn's activities. But he nodded before accepting the proffered hand and letting himself be dragged over to the couch. 

Thrawn moved his legs to accommodate Car’das between them. The Corellian let his mind wander a bit, closing his eyes. He felt the Chiss’ fingers carding through hair and when Car’das eventually looked up at him, Thrawn was staring somewhat wearily at one of the pictures across from them.

“What do you see when you look at one of those?”

“Not enough,” Thrawn murmured before looking down. “I meant to ask what kept you from arriving earlier. I certainly hope it wasn’t merely political overtures from the powerful figures on my behalf.”

“Nah. It’s a Corellian thing. You can’t go home and rush away. And it’s been awhile since I went home.”

“And what is K’rell like? What are other K’rell’ns like?”

Car’das smiled, still amused at Thrawn’s inability to pronounce the planet’s name properly. 

“Oh, well, Corellians are mostly small business owners and entrepreneurs. We like to defy the odds and do all sorts of stupid reckless things. Geographically, Corellia’s a combination of land and water. Rolling hills, forests, some snow-covered mountains… Nothing too thrilling.”

Thrawn ran the fingers of one hand over Car’das’ right thigh. “What else?” 

“It’s the biggest planet in the system. The Elder Brother.”

“How many suns?” Thrawn murmured, lightly kissing his way down Car’das neck. His fingers stopped moving, and came to rest splayed out over Car’das’ leg in a proprietary fashion. 

“Just one.”

“How many other planets are in your system?”

“Five.”

“You’re certain?” Thrawn teased. 

Car’das grinned over his shoulder. “Please. Everyone knows that. Back home, I mean. They’re the five brothers.” 

“Mm.” Thrawn worked his other hand under Car’das’ shirt. “Name them.”

The Corellian couldn’t see any point in protesting, but he wasn’t sure why they had to keep talking. 

“Is this really the right time for an astronomy lesson?”

“Just name them.”

“You’re some kind of information junkie, aren’t you?”

“I love to learn new things,” Thrawn agreed. “I want to learn about you.”

“No worries there.”

“Oh?”

“I’m pretty easier to figure out. Besides, you’re all into art. So I brought you some. You can figure me out that way.” 

Thrawn’s fingers languidly made their way up and down his chest. “A thoughtful gesture on your part, but I have you right here, Jorj. What sense is there in learning about you through other means?”

“Well. That’s true.”

“But don’t despair,” Thrawn added. “I will be only too pleased to view it all. With you. Later.”

“There’s a lot of it. An embarrassing amount, really.”

“We have time.” Thrawn gently pushed Car’das back up to his feet before steering him away from the couch. “For now I should be a better host and give you a tour of our room. You will, of course, be unfamiliar with its contents but familiar with their purposes. Let’s start with the bed.”

Car’das let himself be shoved lightly onto his back, pulling Thrawn down on top of him. It made it easier to get the uniform out of the way. Once they were shirtless, the Chiss caught his hand and began kissing every one of his fingers. 

“You still want the planet names for the Corellian system?”

“I’ll get them out of you soon enough. Let me look at you,” Thrawn insisted. His red eyes seemed to study every inch of him while blue fingers worked on removing the Corellian’s trousers. They made sort work of the fabric and went back to exploring, cool fingers cupping and caressing before stroking Car’das’ length. 

“And you’d have me stare at art instead,” Thrawn murmured as his fingers kept moving. 

Car’das fought back the blush that began slowly creeping up from his neck towards his face and ears.

“I guess we’re… I mean…”

Thrawn chuckled, nuzzling at the spot right behind Car’das’ ear. “Compatible? You really are remarkable. Of course we are, Jorj. What else could we be?” He kissed his way down the Corellian’s chest before glancing up again. “You’re turning bright red.”

Car’das rolled his eyes before lightly gripping Thrawn’s slick hair. “Yeah, well, you’re wearing too much.”

Thrawn smirked, kissing Car’das’ hip before moving back taking his hands with him. At the foot of the bed, he set about removing his boots before working on the rest of his uniform. “Better?’

“Sure. You can go back to staring now.”

“Tell me what you want properly. Practice your Cheunh.”

Car’das frowned. “Kiss?”

“Very well.”

They kissed and Thrawn’s hand went back around his cock.

“I don’t know…”

The Chiss smiled, stroking slowly. “Use the vocabulary you have."

Car’das couldn’t decide what to do. His face felt like it was on fire and eventually he let an arm fall over his eyes.

“No?”

“I feel stupid. I can’t say anything right.”

Thrawn gently moved the Corellian’s hand away and kissed him. He hadn't stilled his fingers though, unwilling to stop all together simply because Car'das was overly anxious about his pronunciation. “I don’t care. I will not correct you. I will understand what you mean, Jorj.”

If nothing else, Car’das believed that Thrawn would keep to his word. “Stroke me faster then.”

Thrawn did so.

“Come here.”

Kissing would keep him from having to speak. Thrawn’s cool fingers moved over him, increasing his grip as Car’das’ lips parted. His tongue explored every inch of the Corellian’s mouth.

“I need you. Faster. What do you want?” Car’das found himself breathlessly asking when Thrawn’s tongue withdrew. 

“Five planets,” Thrawn purred, leaning down to kiss Car’das ear. “One at a time,” he added, fingers stroking to accent each word.

“Corellia. Selonia. Drall. And Tralus and Talus.”

In between each planet, Thrawn murmured his approval and encouragement. Once Car’das worked on the twin worlds, the Chiss’ blue lips wrapped around him.

He whimpered a bit, arching up and groaning. “Thrawn.” His hands sought out the Chiss’ jaw before moving up to his hair.

After Car’das came, he lay there panting, staring down at Thrawn. The commander merely swallowed, looking fairly tranquil despite the fact that he had to have been uncomfortably hard. He leaned over the bed, biting down on Car’das lips and tugging them apart in order to kiss him again.

“We will have to run a few more experiments,” Thrawn mused, “to assuage your concerns, of course. But I think this only confirms my suspicions in regards to our compatibility.”

Car’das snorted as he played with a loose strand of hair. “If any of that means seeing you out of uniform,” he said, switching to Sy Bisti, “it’s fine with me.”

“Cheunh,” Thrawn chided, swatting at his backside. “We’re not done.”

“You now?” Car’das asked, wishing he could form more complete sentences in Thrawn’s native tongue. His pronunciation was impaired by vocal range and modality though. He would probably never speak it with the ease in which the Chiss spoke Basic in spite of Thrawn’s best intentions.

“Sweet boy,” Thrawn replied, red eyes glittering with unchecked amusement. “If you like.”

“Yeah I do.”

Thrawn’s hands grabbed at Car’das’ hips and pulled him down the mattress. “On your knees,” he instructed.

Car’das sank down to the floor fairly and kissed Thrawn’s stomach. “What else?”

Thrawn leaned down and kissed him. Afterwards he was pushing Car’das towards his erection saying, “Your mouth right there.”

He let his lips copy Thrawn’s previous actions and shuddered as the commander’s nails ran down his spine. He switched between sucking and using his tongue, groaning when Thrawn had soft hissing sounds of pleasure. 

Thrawn’s hands moved up, kneading lightly as Car’das’ shoulders before raking nails over his neck, ears, and scalp.

The Corellian swallowed greedily, smiling as Thrawn pulled him up into another satisfying kiss. The Chiss thoughtfully supported the brunt of his weight during the initial seconds it took for Car’das to find his balance.

“Not bad,” Car’das said, licking his lips and moving away. He dropped down and stretched out on the mattress, which thankfully was far more comfortable than the chairs and couches the Chiss seemed to design. 

“Not at all,” the commander agreed. “I can’t wait to learn more about you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just about all the artwork mentioned is nonsense I made up based on the systems I looked at or based off of objects mentioned in Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy.


	3. Chapter 3

“You have an urgent transmission.”

Car’das sat up in bed and relaxed when he saw it was just Thrawn leaning down over him. They’d eventually gone to his room, fooled around there, and he’d passed out sometime after the Chiss excused himself. Basically, Car’das had been sort of looking forward to sleeping in.

Throwing on his clothes, he mumbled something about Thrawn needing to be less in his face when waking him up.

The Chiss patted his cheek before disappearing somewhere.

The screen reveled a familiar face. Not because Car’das knew him personally, but it would have been difficult not to know who Palpatine was.

“Oh. Um.” Car’das had no idea how he was supposed to address a Supreme Chancellor. “Are you sure you didn’t want to just talk to Thrawn? Sir.”

“Oh, this hardly warrants the Commander’s attention. I merely wish to extend a job offer to you.”

“Ah. Um.”

“You may not be aware of this, but there are Chiss within the Republic. In fact, several are Jedi Knights.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes. One of them is quite young, in fact. Orphaned and raised by the Jedi. But I imagine that is of little interest to you.”

Car’das wasn’t sure if he cared, but he just politely shook his head. “No, that’s... I find the Chiss to be really interesting.”

“Then I am sure you will agree to represent the Republic as an Ambassador.”

Car’das blinked. “Sir, I don’t know that--”

“The Republic has an infinite amount of Ambassadors, and I can appoint new ones whenever I deem appropriate.”

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate your confidence, but I’m not sure I need to be an Ambassador.”

“Nonsense. How do you propose to do anything during your stay without a title? You yourself are of no importance to the Chiss as it is. Being an Ambassador can only help you and in turn help the Republic. You are one of the few people who even understands their native tongue.”

“Yeah, but I have a feeling that won’t go over well with some of the Ruling Families here.”

Palpatine smiled placidly. “The matter is a simple one. As I understand it, there is an Artistocra Sev’eere’nuruodo of the Second Ruling Family who would be more reasonable than Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano of the First.”

Car’das had to admit that he felt a little better after listening to the Supreme Chancellor butcher the names of important Chiss leaders.

“The Chiss, I surmise, do not like outsiders. They will not want to learn much about you, but your interest will please them seeing as you have opted to return to them clearly believing that the Chiss are superior to your own people if many ways.”

The hell if Car’das did. He sincerely hoped Thrawn was not under that assumption. Half-tempted to ask how the Supreme Chancellor knew any of this, he merely frowned. After all, there was no point in asking. If the Republic provided a safe haven for abandoned Chiss children or exiled adults, it wasn’t Car’das’ place to question that decision. Not that he really thought this was about the Republic. This was about Palpatine’s own personal agenda, but they sort of ended up being the same thing in the end. The Republic was a lot more crooked than most people knew and the Jedi seemed to be willingly blind to the corruption. And the Supreme Chancellor performed many other secretive tasks.

“I don’t think they’re superior,” Car’das said at length.

“Of course you don’t,” Palpatine said with a light laugh. “No. Merely let her believe that you do. I do not expect them to open their arms to you or present you with unlimited access to their resources or technology. They will simply subject you to their ways of life and thinking, but that is valuable in of itself.”

Car’das rubbed his forehead. “You’re sure about this? I’m not really trained for this sort of thing. I was a smuggler.”

“There are more similarities between that position and the one I’ve giving you than you realize.”

“I guess.”

“Regardless of if you yourself feel qualified, I am certain that you are.”

“Well. Okay.” There wasn’t much he could do and turning the position down would be stupid. And maybe Thrawn would rather be with an Ambassador than a translator.

“It is an official promotion. You will want to return to Coruscant to make a formal report in the near future, but the matter can wait. I should prefer you please the Chiss than assuage my curiosity. I believe that is all I need to say to you.”

“Um. Sure. Thank you. I’ll make it work.”

The Supreme Chancellor smiled thinly. “Of course you will.”

Car’das punched a few buttons and contemplated banging his head against a wall. Not that he could get to most of the walls thanks to the traveling art show he’d been saddled with.

The doors to his room slid open and Thrawn wandered back in, looking as calm and prepared as ever.

“I’ve only been back for a day and already I wish you’d stop doing that.”

“I am not interrupting anything,” Thrawn observed. “Your communications with the Supreme Chancellor are at an end for now.”

“Did you listen in?”

“Of course not. I remain as unaware of what you have discussed as anyone else here.”

Car’das considered this and smiled. “So instead of monitoring, you made sure no one else could.”

“I think you will find there is a great deal I am willing to do for you.”

“How do you make that sound so ominous?”

Thrawn chuckled warmly. “I am sure I do not know. So what did your Supreme Chancellor want? Assuming any of it can be shared?”

“I’m an Ambassador now. And I have to meet with Aristoca Sev’eere’nuruodo. Is that right?”

Thrawn raised an eyebrow as he strode closer. “Yes. I am sure it can be so long as your status can be confirmed and you are willing to sign several non-disclosure agreements.”

“Mostly about not stealing stuff?”

“About discretion, I should think. An Ambassador is hardly likely to steal things or even be accused of such things when representing something as large as the Republic. Even if he was a smuggler.”

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’m not here for your awesome ship plans or anything.”

Thrawn kissed his cheek. “Then congratulations on your promotion.” Car’das sighed, looking down as the Chiss’ fingers massaged his temples. “But you are unhappy. Why?”

“I am going to suck as an Ambassador. What do I even know about administering good will to others and talking up the Republic?”

“You will simply be acting as a positive representative for your people, which is what you did during your last stay. Regardless of what Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano might have thought of you, there are many who were impressed that my model prisoner wanted to learn Cheunch.”

Feeling a little bit like a trained tauntaun, Car’das shrugged.

“You’ll be able to learn a great deal about my people as well. No schematics as you well know, but we rarely gift other races with any information on our developments. I can certainly show you our Clawcraft vessels and the rigorous training the Phalanxes undergo.”

“I suppose you think this is great.”

“I do.”

“How is this great? Because I’m going to amuse all of your friends by answering questions in really bad Cheunh?”

Thrawn turned him around. “If I did not believe this was merely you thinking poorly of your own self, I would be offended. You must stop finding insult in simple observations, Jorj. You were a model prisoner and you were an excellent teacher. Your status as Ambassador provides us with more equal footing which is what I would prefer.”

“Sorry it’s just a lot to take in.”

“I am sure it is, but you need to remember that your last stay among my people was quite beneficial. I can only imagine this one will prove to be just as helpful and enlightening for me and everyone else including yourself. There is also the fact that with you being an Ambassador I need not come up with an explanation for your being here.”

“Why is it so complicated?” Car’das complained.

“You wish I was going to simply inform people that you belong to me,” Thrawn stated. “You are angry.”

“No, not... Not like that. I’m not angry.”

“What would please you?”

Car’das threw up his hands. “I don’t know.”

“I would never tell someone I was not interested in you. I just see little sense in bringing it up at the moment. I do not want my position to effect yours.”

“You’re a Commander. And the youngest and brightest. How can that jeopardize my position?”

“I started out as a merit adoptive and trial-born, Jorj. Whether or not my family has accepted me, I am originally an orphan of another house and as such of a considerably lower status than an Ambassador even as a Commander.”

“The hell if I care.”

“I am aware that such things do not matter to you.”

“Then don’t try to protect me from things that neither one of us care about.”

Thrawn raised one eyebrow. The gesture was the same as ever, but something about the tight line of his jaw indicated sadness or frustration. “And have you accuse me of using you to get myself exiled later on? I think not.”

Car’das blinked.

“You already think I’m keeping you here as a trained pet for reasons I cannot fathom. I will not add to that or provide you with the means of having your ridiculous suspicions confirmed.”

Feeling a bit guilty, Car’das tugged the Chiss to him. He let his fingers brush over the side of Thrawn’s face down to his lips. “I don’t think… Okay, sometimes I do. I’m sorry. But if I really thought you were using me, I’d be trying to leave. And I’m not leaving.”

Thrawn nodded stiffly.

This was stupid. If they both were worried about the other reacting to things that weren’t true, they both needed to convince the other to give it a rest. “Look. We have to be able to trust each other so let’s just trust that I want to be with you and that I think you’re sincerely interested. Because clearly you are in your own Chiss way just as I want to be with you in a very human way. And it’s going to just result in misunderstandings and we have to be able to work them out.”

“That would be better,” Thrawn said.

Exactly. So I’ll stop flinching every time you use the word prisoner. And you can stop thinking that touching my hand in front of other people will kill my career as an ambassador before it even starts. And I can stop thinking that you care any less deeply than I do simply because you’re not all that eager to hold my hand and piss off everyone you know. Deal?”

Thrawn considered this stoically. “Agreed.”

Instead of moving back and shaking hands, Car’das just gave Thrawn a kiss. And then yawned. “I can’t wait until this isn’t so confusing.”

“Neither can I.”

Car’das imagined it was going to take years, but he didn’t think he completely dreaded the prospect of spending years among the Chiss trying to figure out what made Thrawn tick.With only a small twinge of guilt, he found himself wondering just how interested he would be in making things last between them if Thrawn had been normal and easy to decipher. No sense feeling guilty over something that would never happen or matter. Thrawn was about as complex as a person got.

“What about the whole dealing with Aristocas? I didn’t like that last one.”

“You needn’t see him. There would be no reason for you to do so. House Nuruodo handles all Chiss relations with outsiders,” Thrawn soothed, kissing at Car’das’ neck. “If nothing else, know that you’re being an Ambassador only makes things easier and safer for both of us.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes. Our interest in one another will make a bit more sense to most Chiss once you have a legitimate cause to remain with me. Furthermore, should anything go wrong, we would have no choice but to send you directly back to your government.”

“I’d rather avoid that,” Car’das said.

“As would I,” Thrawn admitted.

“I have to report back anyway. For more instructions and to report. Eventually.”

“This will be a brief albeit recurring sojourn, I trust?”

Car’das nodded.

“Acceptable.”

Car’das laughed. “Yeah. I guess it is.”

 

-

The rest of that second day passed by relatively quickly. Thrawn went off to do something of actual benefit to the Chiss Ascendency, and Car’das worked on moving art from his room to Thrawn’s room. The next day was much the same only the commander was off in the _Springhawk_ on a frontier patrol.

They spent the evening together, however, and most of that was sitting in another small, dim galley room with a large panel. This particular viewing chamber was situated in front of the Chiss commander’s room and much more secluded. The conversation was mainly in Basic, which was a nice change of pace.

Car’das eventually slid down to the floor and leaned back against one of Thrawn’s knees, completely uninterested in the dark inky blackness.

Thrawn chuckled, running fingers through the Corellian’s hair as his red eyes contemplated the infinite. “Am I boring you?”

“No. I just think the floor is a nice alternative to that torture device you call a couch.”

“I have no objections to having you at my feet so long as there are no complaints later.”

“Not unless you’re imagining your life as Supreme Ruler of the Galaxy on some comfortable-only-to-the-Chiss throne with an attractive Corellian consort collared and chained to the damned thing.”

“I dislike being given pleasant mental images only to be told to discard them.”

“Sorry.”

“Hm.”

Car’das dozed off for awhile as Thrawn’s fingers continued carding through dark locks. And eventually when he stared up, he found that nothing about Thrawn’s intense gaze or posture had changed. “This is about Thrass, right?”

“I know that he is gone, but I would prefer to be wrong. I find the thought of forgetting about him to be extremely distasteful.”

“It’s all right to have a hard time letting go of things.”

Thrawn blinked slowly and continued eying the panel. “Before he was my brother, he was a good friend when there was no benefit to be gained from such a friendship. When he was my brother, there was never any doubt in my mind that we would do anything for each other. But I never asked him to do this.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“It is no one person’s fault, much to my dismay.”

“You think too much.”

Thrawn looked down. “It is how I am.”

Car’das reached up and brushed a few fingers over Thrawn’s cheek. “And I like that about you, but there’s no point beating yourself up and wrecking your eyes like this. How about I try to distract you?”

“For your information, I cannot wreck my eyes.”

“For your information, I’m just looking for an excuse to get you naked.”

Thrawn considered this and pressed a combination of buttons until the window in front of them was obscured by tinted glass that slid over its surface.

“So. Chiss do have dirty minds, after all.”

Thrawn rolled his eyes. “Distract me with something other than your rapier wit.”

With a smirk, Car’das sunk down to the cool floor beneath them and kissed his way up Thrawn’s boot. His fingers wandered over the commander’s uniform-clad thighs as he slowly brought his lips up to join his hands.

Thrawn sank back, watching him with some strange mixture of cool contemplation and slow arousal.

Car’das’ lips kept moving and he relished the pull of Thrawn’s fingers at his scalp. “It’s hard to tell if you like kissing or not.”

Thrawn offered up a smirk. “What does the evidence before you suggest?”

“Not as much as I’d like it to,” Car’das said before leaning in to mouth Thrawn’s erection through the thick fabric covering it.

“We can’t have that,” Thrawn decided. He hauled Car’das up as he rose to his feet. A few kisses and deft movements later, and they were mostly undressed. And Car’das would have gone without complaining if he hadn’t been unceremoniously shoved down onto the couch behind them.

“Not on this.”

Thrawn smirked, holding the Corellian easily in place. “Should you be left with any lingering pains, I will nurse you back to health.”

“Oh for....mmf.” He bit lightly at the three blue fingers that had been inserted into his mouth.

“Hush. You must merely make the necessary adjustments,” Thrawn murmured before nipping at Car’das’ ear and neck.

He managed a few muffled snorts of protest, but the thoughtful expression on Thrawn’s face and the grip of the Chiss’ little finger and thumb on his face eventually convinced him to put his tongue and lips to better use on the three finger currently available to him.

Thrawn’s teeth grazed lightly at Car’das’ nipples as the nails of his free hand moved over the human’s chest. “Distracting me should certainly be of a larger priority than your back. Yes, Jorj?”

Car’das managed a nod.

Thrawn’s tongue licked in a wide stripe over Car’das stomach. “If you will be good, we’ll do more. If you will not then I am interested to see what you’d look like if I decided to make that delicious mental image you gave me into a temporary reality. Not that I suspect you would mind so much as you would protest.”

Car’das nodded again.

“Good.” Thrawn dragged him further down on the couch before patting his cheek and moving his hand away.

“You’re kind of a bastard.” Only saying it did it occur to Car’das that calling someone who might have actually been a bastard was in poor taste. But Thrawn looked pleased as if Car’das had merely confessed to some ruthless act of espionage or professed his undying love.

“You kind of like it.”

“Well, yeah.”

Thrawn kissed him, biting at his lower lip before lightly pushing one of his slicked up fingers into Car’das. “Just as I like you just the way you are,” he murmured going back to speaking in Cheunch and adding a second finger. “Have you done this before, sweet boy? It doesn’t feel like it.”

“Plenty of times,” Car’das hoarsely insisted. He switched immediately to speaking Cheunh himself as he was in no desire to really beg for sex all that much. “Do more than that.”

A third finger went in, all of them twisting lightly and teasingly. Car’das groaned.

“I intend to do much more than that,” Thrawn promised. His free hand stroked absently at the human’s cock until it was slick with precum.

Car’das groaned again as the hand squeezed before releasing him just as all three fingers slid out. He tugged Thrawn down with a violent grab of hands, biting at the Chiss’ neck until the near-human chuckled darkly and finished preparing himself.

“All right,” Thrawn murmured, parting Car’das legs. “All right.” He slid in and rocked forward, pulling Car’das to him before thrusting again. He repeated the motion, nails digging lightly into Car’das’ hips.

“Glad I came back,” Car’das admitted, before his teeth began grazing over Thrawn’s shoulder. Eventually he was released and his head hit the couch with a soft thud, but he was too busy focusing on the way Thrawn’s cock felt to notice too much.

He lay there, taking everything in through half-lidded eyes. Seeing only blue with the occasional glimmer of red as they continued moving in tandem.

After he climaxed, Thrawn stroked Car’das lazily but roughly until the Corellian did the same.

“I officially declare myself distracted,” the Chiss said with no small amount of smug cheer as he pulled out. His eyes gleamed with satisfaction in the faint light and he was only too willing to all but carry Car’das to the bedroom.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out actual events both Republic-wide and Thrawn-specific will be sped up and happen in a matter of months instead of years.

Car’das was jostled awake by Thrawn who managed to move a respectful distance away before Car’das could smack him.

“You must eat and prepare yourself for meeting the Aristocra. She has finally seen fit to give you an appointment.”

Not in person, of course. Thrawn apologetically informed him that bringing a human to Csilla would be altogether too much for most of the Ruling Families to tolerate. Particularly a human who would have to be accompanied by a Commander who was overeager to differentiate himself from the rest of polite society.

“It is fortunate in a way,” Thrawn added. “You will be forced to remain with me and doubtlessly placed under my direct supervision.”

“So nothing much will change.”

“Not in the immediate future. I suspect that eventually someone important will wish to meet you.”

Car’das showered and changed into something more fitting for meeting a dignitary, namely the only green jacket he owned –green being important to Corellia not that someone Chiss would care-- and a collared white shirt tucked into neatly pressed trousers. 

Thrawn watched Car’das eat with rapt interest but with no interest in joining him. Apparently he’d eaten earlier.

“Someday I want a uniform,” Car’das decided.

“I would not object to that, but we ought to discuss something before you speak to the Aristocra,” Thrawn began when Car’das’ mouth was full. “You must remember to only address people by their ranks including me when we’re in a more formal setting or even during casual interactions with those under my command. Once such things are sanctioned or approved, of course.”

“I thought I got to use your core name. If nothing else, I definitely should be able to use it now.”

Thrawn laughed. “Yes, but not among my people and certainly not on a frequent basis when others are nearby. Core names are very personal. I was glad to give it to you and I did not mind sharing it with Ferasi, but it is different now that you are an Ambassador. We do not acknowledge individuals, Jorj. We acknowledge rank.”

“I don’t mind you using my name.”

“No, but I would mind others using your name.”

Car’das sighed. “But it’s just my name.”

“Names are personal. I know that this must seem rather nonsensical to you, but I’m afraid it is necessary.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Car’das said after mulling the matter over. “It’s not a big deal.”

And it wasn’t, but Car’das couldn’t figure out how Thrawn managed to remain among these backwards people even though he was one. He suspected Thrawn was still working on a way to leave that was not the same was willingly being demoted, but that only left exile and he doubted he’d be allowed to follow Thrawn into it. Whatever path Thrawn chose, Car’das refused to let himself wind up feeling as if he himself had been used. Such possible outcomes were already weighing on Thrawn’s mind, and Car’das disliked the notion of Thrawn remaining trapped simply to keep from hurting someone else’s feelings.

The conversation with Aristoca Sev’eere’nuruodo was about as brief as the one with Palpatine. She was probably the tallest Chiss he’d ever seen even if he wasn’t seeing her in person. The Aristocra was willowy and regal in a black uniform with metal bars and a large bronze patch that signified some sort of connection to the CEDF although it was awhile before he learned what that was.

Veeren, not that he would have dared to call her that, seemed intrigued and amused by Car’das piss-poor Cheunh. Eventually she took pity on him and switched to Sy Bisti.

After some questions and examining the information she had at her disposal, she seemed satisfied that he was merely a Republic envoy and not a spy. His appreciation of the Chiss language and culture did him much credit. As for his location, Car’das was informed that Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo was quite pleased to have him on Picket Force Two where he could learn about the strength of their Defense Fleet and Phalanx divisions to his heart’s content so long as it was under the Commander’s direct supervision.

With a thin, smug smile, Veeren added that it would make little sense to move Ca’rdas anyway since the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet was controlled by her House.

After the talk was over, he stretched back out on his bed and waited for Thrawn to come out from where ever he’d been lurking. “You people sure love to brag,” Car’das muttered.

“Then you must have faith that I am as eager to brag about you as anything else,” Thrawn said.

“I’m not really worried about that.”

“All the same, I will assert my claim when needed and certainly I will not discourage you from any demonstrations of physical affection should such expressions seem permissible or beneficial to you.”

Car’das sighed. “With you it’s all about timing. I don’t think I can do that. I don’t know how to time or make my reactions suitable for the entire Chiss population. Do you?”

Thrawn sat down on the bed and offered up an apologetic smile. “What I feel and when I feel it are outside of my control. I know it is the same for you. However, allowing others to manipulate those feelings to their own advantage is another matter entirely. I will not submit you to public scorn or ridicule on my behalf or to satisfy any selfish desires I might have for you at any given time during the course of a day.”

“That’s why you did nothing before,” Car’das thoughtfully concluded. “Thrawn… How long did you feel things for me?”

Thrawn colored slightly. Car’das wondered for the first time if Thrawn had felt this way from the very beginning. Or maybe just from the moment he learned he couldn’t just use Car’das’ first name without giving something in exchange.

“You can tell me,” he insisted, brushing fingers over Thrawn’s arm. “We Corellians like that sort of thing.”

“Nearly the entirety of your stay,” the commander testily replied. “As I mentioned prior to your departure, if memory serves.”

Car’das sat up. “I know but I like hearing it,” he admitted. No one had ever wanted him around as much as Thrawn seemed to even if his way of expressing that sentiment was difficult to interpret and easy to miss. “You must have known I wouldn’t reject you. I liked and trusted you after knowing you for all of five milliseconds.”

“You were always destined to leave.”

“You could have asked me to stay.”

Thrawn raised an eyebrow. “Why? The odds of your staying were--”

“I might have,” Car’das argued. “You can’t use statistics or the laws of probability as an excuse for being too scared I’d reject you.”

“Then clearly you do not need me to explain why I did not ask,” Thrawn hissed.

Car’das sighed and put his arms around Thrawn’s neck to keep the Chiss there when he started to get to his feet. “Relax. Okay?”

Reluctantly Thrawn nodded, but his gaze shifted towards the door.

“I need to ask because I want to know why you do things. I shouldn’t have phrased it that way because I honestly don’t think less of you just because you didn’t want to get hurt. What I should have said is that Corellians and odds don’t mix. If being with you means cheating, defying, or ignoring them? I was willing to do that before and I’m willing to do that now.”

Thrawn turned to look at him. “You worry that I will not?”

It was Car’das’ turn to look smug. “No, I don’t. I figure you’re too smart to be that dumb.”

Thrawn seemed to need a moment to process this, but eventually he offered up a small, strained smile.

-

The days following the conversation were pleasant enough. He found that most of the Chiss stationed on Picket Force Two could understand his Cheunh and were eager to speak about themselves to an outsider. After all, they’d never met someone from another sector of space before without intending to shoot them out of the sky or send them back to whence they came from. It would be many months before the novelty wore off.

The kindest of these pilots and soldiers were from Thrawn’s Household Phalanx. There weren’t many of them, but they all wore burgundy and several of them were appointed to Thrawn as some sort of protection detail. And there was no one they admired or strove to emulate more than their commander.

Car’das wasn’t allowed onboard the small Clawcraft fighters, but he was allowed to view them, a privilege that many ship manufacturers and designers might have killed for particularly Sienar Advanced Systems.

“They’re still flawed,” Thrawn observed in quiet Basic. “Somehow.”

But whatever corrections needed to be made seemed beyond even the commander’s ken.

The sequence of most evenings became fairly predictable, albeit pleasant. There was no point in asking how their days had been since they spent them together or at least on the same base.

Thrawn would stare at art for a few hours and Car’das would try to catch up on all the events going on simultaneously in the Republic with what little access he had to that information. The SIE-TIE twin ion engine gave way to news of a ridiculous number of clones fighting wars elsewhere.

The commander would eventually need to ask a few questions about Alderaan or Naboo or whatever planet of origin the artwork came from. Car’das would make an effort to only tell Thrawn about some of the Republican chaos, but would inevitably end up telling him everything.

The ion engine was the bit of news that interested Thrawn the most since he couldn’t completely understand why humans were so slow to improve the designs of their own ships. He could see the benefits of cloning. He seemed a bit disgusted to learn that the only Republic clones were of one man and a bounty hunter at that.

“A waste of resources,” he murmured. “But I imagine this cloning will give way to more productive uses of the technologies that created them.”

In only a matter of months, Thrawn made his way through the art given to him, and Car’das was able to take his report back with him to what seemed like a slowly unraveling Republic. He hadn’t been looking forward to the trip.

Arriving in Courscant would take twice as long as it should have and leaving would be difficult for several months. Thrawn had taken this in stride, but he also had kept Car’das in bed for nearly a day and a half before seeing him to his ship.

Palpatine seemed to be in high spirits as a result of various conflicts rather than in spite of them. He tried to suggest this was because difficult times could make or break a great man, but the glimmer in his eyes suggested some darker kind of madness. Something Thrawn would have appreciated, but one that Car’das couldn’t understand.

The Supreme Chancellor showed off a TIE fighter prototype to Car’das and a select handful of others including one young man named Anakin Skywalker who had temporarily returned to the Capital in order to be promoted to Jedi Knight. A promotion, it turned out, that was basically an excuse to keep him out of action for a few months. Meditation and contemplation were his current tasks.

“The thing's a mess if you look at it,” the Jedi had insisted, giving the SIE-TIE another one over when Palpatine had moved on to speak privately with the more important of his guests and supporters. “The power-yield is pathetic and you can’t actually expect a fighter pilot to survive without a proper life-support system. And the shielding on this baby is non-existent. But maybe your blue friends can fix the problem someday. Kinman Doriana tells me their ships can do microjumps.”

“Only the combat cruisers. I think they’re having problems with their clawships.”

Anakin looked intrigued. “Which are?”

“Um. Sort of like this only with curved wings and a different cockpit.”

“No chance of you borrowing a ship someday?”

Car’das had laughed. “I doubt it.”

Skywalker, at least, was entertaining company. Since Anakin was only a few years younger, they had more in common than not. And once he saw Anakin mooning over Senator Amidala, he figured they both had similar problems.

“You should talk to her,” Car’das suggested as they walked past her and down to one of the scummiest space pubs available. They knew from habit that it was one of the few locations that the Jedi would never look for Anakin in.

Anakin smirked. “I do a lot more than talk to her.”

“Really?”

And here the Jedi looked less arrogant and a bit more vulnerable. “Well, she’s everything to me. I love her.”

“What about the whole celibacy thing? No one cares?”

Anakin snorted and ordered their drinks. “Love isn’t just about sex, but it doesn’t matter. There’s not much they can do about the things they don’t know about. I doubt they’d believe you if you told them.”

Car’das glared at the Jedi Knight. “Like I would. We’re friends.”

Anakin laughed. “Relax. I know you wouldn’t. So do you miss the blue people now?”

“Not exactly.” He wasn’t going to admit to having days where he longed to be the only pale person in a sea of more colorful people.

“You miss that one guy then.”

“Maybe.”

“No, you definitely miss him.”

“Yeah, I do.”

But your affection for him…”

“Is about as taboo as the one you have for that Senator, I think.”

“I bet it’s a little less,” Anakin wryly replied. “So. Why didn’t he come with you?”

“He’d bring even more shame on his people, I guess. I think it’s forbidden to be interested in anything different.”

“Poor guy. I guess it’s like that everywhere.”

“It shouldn’t be.”

“No,” Anakin agreed. “It shouldn’t. I grew up thinking that once I got freed and off Tatooine, I’d be done with all of this shit. You know?”

Car’das didn’t know completely, but he nodded anyway. “You figured people would be open-minded.”

“Or at least receptive to new ideas.”

“You’d think certain groups would be obligated to be.”

“Exactly. I figured Jedi would be. I’d like to think people capable of creating cruisers that  
can microjump and fighter ships with the ability to go into light speed without on-board navigational computers would be open-minded too. How else do they come up with that? How else can a Jedi want to help the galaxy? What good is being special or being a chosen one if all people do is hold you back?”

“I don’t know.”

“It shouldn’t be like that. A whole galaxy full of willfully oblivious people. If we’re this enlightened Republic, why isn’t everyone made to be more aware?”

Car’das shrugged. “You couldn’t have that unless you forced it onto people. You’d have to make them be liberal, tolerant, and welcoming. And it would be a lot of work and no one would thank you for it.”

Anakin shrugged. “I don’t want thanks or a parade. I want to be able to express myself fully and not have to worry about all the stupid consequences of being true to myself.”

“I know what you mean.”

And there seemed to be an endless amount of consequences for Anakin’s actions. He was constantly in trouble with Jedi equivalents of nurse maids. He seemed to dismiss this with a decent amount of aplomb, but he was clearly frustrated by each interruption and the inability of the Council to trust him. Every so often, his former Master would show up and while he clearly was concerned by Anakin’s behavior, Obi-Wan Kenobi could eventually be coerced into drinking or at least listening to random factoids about the Chiss.

In some ways Skywalker was like an angrier, immature version of Thrawn, – a young man gifted and destined for something more with everyone at least vaguely aware of his potential but being thwarted at every turn— but in others they were complete opposites. Anakin was openly affectionate with his girlfriend, lover, or wife. It was hard to tell what they were. Anakin was completely uninterested in looking good or earning new titles. And he certainly didn’t plan ahead for anything.

As far as Thrawn was concerned, Car’das’ conversations with him were brief and entirely in Basic. They were fairly dismal talks too with neither one of them learning anything they didn’t already know about the other and both of them expressing affection as if they were distant strangers. The longer he was away, the less he tried contacting the Chiss. It was just too damn depressing.

Instead he rounded up more artwork and spent as little time on his own as was possible. He was eventually allowed into the Jedi Archives and Obi-Wan was able to give him copies of their art, which he figured would please Thrawn. And he caught only a small glimpse of the Chiss Jedi Padawan before learning the boy had stolen away to fight in the Clone Wars elsewhere.

-

Returning to Crustai was a strange experience and although he wasn’t sure how Thrawn would react, he found himself hugging the Chiss immediately upon seeing him.

Surprisingly, the commander returned it somewhat fiercely and he smiled, but it didn’t quite work its way up to his red eyes. He didn’t particularly good either. Too stressed and on edge for Car’das’ taste. And he was only too willing to follow where the Corellian led, which either indicated a lack of sleep or temporary lapse in sanity.

“What did they do now?” Car’das asked.

Thrawn sighed as they left the docking bay and would say no more about the matter until the door to their room was between them and the rest of the base staff.

Apparently preemptive strikes had been the order of day ever since Car’das had been off pretending to be good at being an Ambassador. Needless to say, the majority of Chiss Aristocras were furious and threatening to remove him from his position. They had made no definite decisions, but it wouldn’t take much more for them to take drastic action.

“Have you tried to reason with them?”

“I am past trying to reason with those who are significantly lacking in that particular virtue.”

“You might need to give them time.”

“I am tired of giving them _anything_.”

Car’das sighed and patted Thrawn’s arm. “I know. I think I’d rather we worried about this later.”

“So would everyone else.”

“Maybe I agree with them since I just got here and I haven’t seen you in months. And maybe I don’t really care about any of this bullshit because I already know you’re doing the right thing.”

They stared at one another for a few minutes, both dealing with their own unique combination of frustrations, before Thrawn managed a sincere smile. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

They kissed and moved on to more enjoyable pursuits.

Thrawn had little to share about his months alone and Car’das found himself strangely subdued when it came to mentioning new friends he’d made. Instead, they looked at artwork together and Car’das spent most of the first day back kissing a very enthusiastic Thrawn.

For a few days, they were able to push the matter aside, but the Chiss commander continued to be hell-bent on creating enormous rifts between himself and the rest of his people.


	5. Chapter 5

After being back in Chiss space for a little over a month, Ca’rdas was invited to visit Csilla. Given all the tension and uncertainly at the base, the invitation had almost come as a relief.

Thrawn was already in bed scrolling over newly collected data from scouting parties and frontier patrols on a datapad when Car’das told him.

“Of course I cannot go with you,” Thrawn calmly explained, but he looked restless and more than a little displeased by the tone of the message Car’das had received.

Car’das nodded. “Too much going on here, right? That’s okay.”

Thrawn raised an eyebrow. “I’ve not been invited or hadn’t you noticed?”

“But… they can’t possibly… Why would they…”

“We’ve discussed this. You’re an Ambassador. They are obviously curious to learn more about you, and I can hardly blame them.” Although he was striving for indifference, the commander only succeeded in sounding disapprovingly bitter.

Car’das leaned down and kissed Thrawn’s cheek.“If you tell me not to go, I won’t.”

“Why would I deny you the opportunity?”

“Because clearly it’s upsetting you.”

Thrawn exhaled sharply. “Yes, and I am not sure why.”

“Because they don’t want you there at the moment?”

Thrawn shook his head.

“Because you won’t be with me?”

“More than likely,” Thrawn wryly replied.

“Look at me,” Car’das said, forcing Thrawn to meet his gaze as he knelt on the mattress. “If you don’t want me to go, I won’t. I don’t care what excuse I need to make up.”

“You cannot refuse an invitation from a Ruling Family.”

“Watch me.”

“It would be in incredibly poor taste.”

“Then I’ll tell them why. I’m even less concerned with their opinion of me than you are with their opinion of your actions.”

“This seems unwise.”

“Look, I… You have to know you matter more to me. I get that your people don’t value individuals, but I value you.”

“Likewise,” Thrawn murmured.

“Then… to hell with them, okay? Don’t ask me to play nice when you don’t actually want me to.”

Thrawn sighed heavily and Car’das pulled him into a hug. “It may end up being a moot point anyway.”

“Oh?”

“I need to deal with this.” Thrawn punched a few buttons and a small holographic building appeared. “Whirlwind has located a weapons installation right outside of our borders.”

Looking at the images, Car’das could already figure out what the commander was going to do about it.

“It’s only a matter of time before this must be dealt with,” Thrawn pointed out. “They are not simply stock-piling and making weapons for the joy said task brings.”

“What does everyone else want to do?”

“What do you think?”

Car’das sighed. “I’m guessing I don’t really want to be on Csilla when you deal with them.”

“That is still technically for the Ruling Families to decide.” Thrawn was silent for a moment before setting the datapad down and brushing cool fingers over Car’das’ face. “But even so I would still have to ask you not to go to Csilla.”

“Then ask.”

“Please don’t go.”

“Because?”

“Because I would prefer to stay with you for as long as it remains possible,” was Thrawn’s somewhat unanticipated answer.

“I’m not going to leave you just because you get sent offworld.”

“You don’t understand, Jorj. You will not be able to follow me into exile.”

“Why not?”

“It is simply not even a possibility. You are an Ambassador of the Republic and not my spouse. Furthermore, the experience will be intended to alienate, isolate, and punish me.”

“All the more reason to send me along. I could make you miserable if I put my mind to it.”

Thrawn smiled, looking a bit more affectionate than usual. “No, you could not. There is too much kindness and empathy in your nature for that. And you care for me too much.”

“I couldn’t possibly care for you too much,” Car’das argued before lapsing into a thoughtful silence. Thrawn’s fingers carded through his hair. “So what will happen?”

“I will lose you. You will lose me. Temporarily.”

“How will it be temporary? They’re going to toss you at some deserted world and…” Car’das shook his head firmly. “Never mind. Explain how your exile will be temporary. Please.”

Thrawn kissed his cheek. “You are quite attached to me.”

“I’m also rapidly running out of patience. So spill.”

“You’ll be able to track my location. I cannot tell you how only that you will find the means on your ship once you leave for the last time.”

Car’das didn’t know that he wanted to leave Crustai for the last time, but he didn’t say or even try to indicate as much. “Once this over, will we be together?”

“Most assuredly. What we have was never meant to be temporary. I do not really care for temporary arrangements.”

Car’das sighed. “Then all right. Not that you need my approval or consent.”

Thrawn took Car’das’ hands in his. “I am honored to have it. Your trust touches me deeply, Jorj. I know that you do not wish to leave and I am not overly thrilled at the prospects, but I truly believe that happiness for either one of us can only be found elsewhere.”

-

Days later, the Clone Wars gave way to the Separatist Crisis. Palpatine was able to keep his seat and was doing his level best to keep the Republic from splitting in two. But somehow Car’das doubted that was the man’s true intention.

Car’das contacted Aristocra Vereen, feeling not small amount of trepidation. But he calmly stated he could not visit due to the situation back in the Republic, which could call for his immediate departure at any time. He wished he could have shared his feelings for Thrawn, but he couldn’t bring himself to add to his lover’s problems.  
Even as weeks slowly trickled by, Car’das felt as though his days were numbered. He weighed his words carefully and every time he saw Thrawn, he hoped it wouldn’t be for the last time.

He focused mainly on recording Thrawn’s analysis of Mandalorian vases and other artwork recently brought over from Alderaan, the soul of the Republic. Coruscant, many felt, was merely its heart.

“I do not believe these pieces to be as significant as the Supreme Chancellor might wish. Is he still holding that position?”

Ca’rdas shrugged.

“I have been meaning to ask… Are you well, Jorj?” Even as he posed the question, Thrawn began examining Car’das for signs of infection or fever.

“Everything’s so up in the air right now. There might not even be a Republic. And you might…”

“All shall be well.”

Car’das scowled, shoving Thrawn’s hand away from his forehead “I don’t feel that way.”

Thrawn raised an eyebrow.

“You might have a distracting exile to look forward to, but what do I have? Weeks sitting around like some war widow on Coruscant? I’m not going to have a job. I can’t be an Ambassador to nowhere so they’ll let me be a smuggler again. Meanwhile some low-level bureaucrat will have your exact coordinates, but I won’t. And the only person you’re a priority to is me.”

“Perhaps, but I imagine that as the Supreme Chancellor of—”

“What if there’s no Republic?”

Thrawn considered this. “I suspect that will not matter. Palpatine is not going anywhere. He is a force to be reckoned with and an authority to be obeyed.”

Car’das frowned. “He’s just some old guy. He used to be a Senator. I doubt he’s a big deal.”

“You know he is more than that. Do not let your judgment be clouded by appearances. We both know he is not just a Republic figurehead.”

“Yeah,” Car’das was reluctantly forced to admit.

And as if Thrawn had somehow made it happen through sheer force of will, the Republic fell mere weeks later and an Empire rose out of the ashes of its smoldering corpse. The Jedi were scattered like so many grains of dust, being hunted down by Anakin Skywalker of all people. Then the decision came back to wait and observe the enemy weapons facility, but not to attack without provocation even if there was arguably due cause.

Car’das found out about the latter event through eavesdropping on a conversation in the base’s cafeteria. The Chiss had never seemed to completely grasp the concept of his understanding Cheunch.

Marching back to Thrawn’s room, he glared at the commander even as Thrawn kissed his neck.

“What is it?”

“The Aristocras. They decided to leave the base alone days ago but you’re not. You left last night with a whole bunch of plans.”

“Hm. Yes I did. I am glad you’re here. It saves me time as I wished to speak to you anyway.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes. You’re leaving. Now.”

Car’das blinked as Thrawn began steering him out of the room and into the hall. “I should stay at least until we’re sure that—”

“No.”

“And if they don’t exile you anytime soon?”

“I am afraid as of the evening you briefly alluded to, I have left them with no alternative. The majority of my men are loyal to a fault. One of them, however, has informed a certain Aristocra and Admiral of my activities.”

“But my stuff...”

“It’s on the ship along with some of my belongings that I should like to keep once all this is over.”

“What if I don’t want to leave?”

“I am not giving you an option. I know you too well to leave something as important as your safety entirely subject to your whims, Jorj,” the commander explained, grip tightening, becoming stronger and unyielding, on Car’das arm as they kept walking. “I cannot let you stay. You will not approve of what happens.”

“Of what you did or what they’ll do?”

“Both.”

“You didn’t even tell me about this.”

“I did not wish to cause you any more emotional duress than I already had. The last few weeks, you’ve been absolutely morose.”

“I had a right to be. I have a right to stay too. You can’t just constantly drag me here or push me there, Thrawn. Or leave me out of what you do.”

“In this case, I did what I thought was best and now they will do what they think is best. I simply refuse to let them do the same with you.”

As if on queue, Car’das heard angry, raised voices coming from another corridor. Thrawn hauled him into the docking bay and down to where his ship’s platform had already been lowered.

“I don’t understand.”

“You would if you stopped to think about it. The installation is gone and the others were content to leave it be."

“Then you—"

“Did what I had to do. As I already said.”

“Thrawn—"

The Chiss spun him around and kissed him quite fiercely before shoving him towards the ship, up into its hull. “I will find you. Or you will find me. It doesn’t matter which way it happens, but it will happen.”

“Wait. Just come with,” Ca’rdas said, hating the pleading note in his voice. He tried to move back out, but Thrawn’s hands held him in place.

“It is not possible,” the Chiss said with a sad look. Pushing Car’das back, he moved out and the platform rose up into the ship. “Be safe, Jorj.” And before the ship could seal shut, he added, “Know that I love you.”

“Bastard,” Car’das forced out through gritted teeth.

He contemplated going back out, but there wasn’t anything he could do and that was completely Thrawn’s doing. So instead he angrily stalked into the cockpit, waited to be cleared for travel, and then began his departure.


	6. Chapter 6

The trip back to Coruscant was too long for Car’das’ taste. The longer he sat in the cockpit, the longer he stared at the tiny red dot on the locator he’d found shoved under his seat. The red dot indicating Thrawn’s movements to some spot outside the Unknown Regions. And the more Car’das studied the dot, the more he felt like a small, unwanted child who had been sent away for his own good. He contemplated spacing all of Thrawn’s holograms that had been put on his ship, and finding a hot, normal Corellian to hook up with.

But no. Of course not. He had feelings for one of the stupidest members of one of the stupidest race of blue people he’d ever had the misfortune of discovering.

On the way, he spoke to several of the new Emperor Palpatine’s men. He’d already told them what a proper Chiss exile entailed and with the locator, it would only be a matter of weeks before Thrawn was retrieved. 

Upon arrival, he was greeted by a very different-looking Anakin Skywalker, or Darth Vader as he had been newly christened. He was scarred, seething with some inexplicable, irresolvable rage, and had lost at least one limb since Car’das had seen him. 

“Don’t be alarmed,” the Dark Jedi said, clamping an arm down around Car’das’ shoulders as he led him towards where the Emperor and other dignitaries were waiting. All human. Later Car’das would learn that very few aliens were at the capital, most of them had been shipped back home or simply instructed to leave. The Jedi themselves were gone and their temple in ruins with their teachings and way of life practically obliterated by the boy they had never taken particularly good care of. 

“My work is difficult, and I will lose much more of myself before I am finished.” The worst part was Vader sounded pleased by the prospects.

There were at least eighteen rumors going around as to why he’d gotten that way. Mostly by killing Jedi children, according to some overly superstitious soldiers. 

“What happened to Amidala?”

“House arrest,” Anakin growled out. “But it is only a matter of time before she sees things my way. Once our children are born.”

This seemed sort of ridiculous and decidedly wishful thinking on the Jedi’s part, but Car’das didn’t dare call him on it.

“The Emperor will have uses for the commander as well when something can be spared to retrieve him. I will have uses for you in the meantime.”

These uses were smuggling and the trafficking of information specifically secrets that would locate Jedi, all of them dead-ends much to Car’das’ delight and Anakin’s ire. All the while Car’das felt ill-at-ease, wishing Thrawn would come back and find something more worthy of his time. 

He spent evenings giving himself a headache as he debated ways to get out of his position or find a means of travel to the Outer Rims where he could shake down each planet until a Chiss fell out. But exile and failing to perform to the best of his ability wasn’t an option when saddled with a half-mad Jedi Knight.

Anakin had only two methods of dealing with those who displeased him: force-chokes and cutting them into pieces with his lightsaber. 

The Empire was, of course, the Emperor’s first priority. Palpatine had been working behind the scene for years and had plenty of allies and supporters, but even so few ships could be spared for one purpose and one purpose alone. Car’das could spend evenings staring at a blinking red light, but no one could be sent so far from the Empire for several months. 

As a result, Car’das spent most of his evenings drinking while Vader pondered death and doom for others nearby. Loneliness had driven him to spend time with Anakin, but drinking, well, he’d missed drinking. He knew other smugglers though, and occasionally forced Talon Karrade to go on runs with him. Just so he didn’t get completely rusty.

Occasionally Vader would reminisce about Obi-Wan, but such reflections led only to an obsession with tracking his former master and friend for the express pleasure of killing him.

The Emperor seemed uninterested in Vader’s own vendettas, sending the man out on more and more errands that involved less and less actual killing of the dwindling number of Jedi left to be annihilated. 

Amidala remained a subject best untouched and Anakin never asked about Thrawn.

“She was leaving me for Obi-Wan. And he was mine. Just like she is mine,” Anakin concluded at the end of one particularly bad night. Vader had been sent to deal with a small group of Rebel insurgents and Car’das had gone ostensibly as an aide but primarily as a babysitter.

That night Anakin also looked sad and more like his former self. One eye was blood-red and the skin around it swollen. He was starting to wheeze a bit, which only meant more modifications in the near future. He was already becoming more metal than man, and Car’das found himself hating the slow transformation.

A wistful smile passed Anakin’s lips as rapidly as thought. “Sometimes I still hate her for her infidelity. She denies it of course, but I know better.”

Car’das worked on finishing his drink.

“And in the end she remains here with me and I have no desire to see my former master and friend until it’s time to end him.”

Car’das decided to just nod. He didn’t have to smile, obviously, but Anakin could not be reasoned with by anyone but the Emperor. 

“Do you still love that blue alien of yours, Jorj?”

“Yeah,” Car’das admitted reluctantly. “He’s an asshole, but I love him.”

A strange look passed over the Dark Jedi’s features. “Come here,” Anakin said. No, commanded. 

The request seemed strange, and while Car’das couldn’t think of a reason not to, he was still surprised to find himself abandoning his chair and straddling Vader’s lap.

“This is good. You’re comfortable here.” And just like that Car’das was. “Do you think your love protects you?” Anakin murmured, hands clamping down on Car’das’ biceps.

“I… don’t know.”

“Yes, you do. You’re too clever to think affection or devotion to some blue freak makes a difference to me or anyone else here.”

Car’das wanted to leave but he found himself leaning closer as if the words pleased him and he wished to learn more.

“I could do anything I wanted to you, Jorj,” Anakin purred, leaning in. “You’d like it. Amidala does even if she’s too stubborn to admit it.”

Car’das wanted to shake his head, but found himself nodding instead.

“Love wouldn’t stop you from giving in to me either.”

“Why are—” 

“I think you should kiss me.”

Car’das leaned down and kissed Vader’s scarred lips. Then he pulled away, trapped in place by the grip on his arms. When he opened his mouth to speak, an invisible hand wrapped around his throat. 

“Love is weak. Strength lies in power and control. Love keeps you a prisoner and it keeps you weak.”

“Stop,” Car’das managed.

The pressure went away and Anakin’s arms circled his waist. “They did find your commander.” Then he shoved Car’das to his feet. 

He felt a little more like himself the farther he got from Anakin, but the knowledge that he was able to do so only because the Jedi let him, wasn’t very comforting.

“He’ll be here tomorrow,” Anakin calmly added. Then he stalked forward and kissed Car’das again, his gloved fingers digging roughly into the Corellian’s neck as he bit his upper lip until he drew blood. “My master’s new pet, safe and sound and ready to do the Emperor’s dirty work. Just like me. So much like me that if you trust him, you might not live long enough to regret it.”

Car’das spent the rest of the night holed up in his room, fingering the dark red glove prints on his throat and the mark on his lip. He wasn’t particularly concerned about Thrawn so much as thankful that he was coming back. Similarly he wasn’t worried about what Anakin had said so much as how strange Anakin had become. 

-

Quite accidentally, the mission of finding Thrawn had fallen to _Strikefast_ , a Victory-class Star Destroyer under the command of General Voss Parack that was already in the Outer Rim Territories dealing with Booster Terik. Just why anyone in the Empire thought to could outfox the old Corellian smuggler was beyond Car’das' understanding.

Oddly enough they might have caught Terik when he was forced to land on a small planetoid consistently mainly of a dense jungle if they hadn’t lost several TIEs and shuttles to rudimentary traps made with native flora and fauna. Parack had been impressed with Thrawn’s efforts anyway, and had been only more so once it was obvious that not only did the Chiss speak Basic, but he was known to the Emperor. 

Darth Vader had been sent away on some other mission which was just as well as far as Car’das was concerned. He wasn’t sure how Thrawn would react once he noticed the marks on his neck, and he was even less eager to see how little Thrawn might react even if he did.

He told himself as the shuttle came into view, that it would be better not to react all that much to Thrawn’s arrival. At least not publicly. Clearly Palpatine wasn’t fond of anyone blue, green, red, or fur-covered so things would only be made that much worse if Car’das was to act upon any urgent desires to fling himself at the Chiss. 

Somehow his brain ignored the message and he made a beeline for Thrawn the second he was far enough away from the ship to be fully visible. He looked no worse for wear in his Imperial issue uniform that someone must have lent him. 

Car’das hardly cared. He brushed off the arm of one of the lietenants who tried to stop him from rushing forward. Protocol be damned. He just had to at least touch Thrawn and make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. 

And then he had to kiss Thrawn because he was there and Car’das had been miserable without him. 

If Thrawn was startled, he did a good job hiding it as he returned the kiss and let his arms wrap around Car’das' waist. Jorj let his hands dig into the gray fabric that covered Thrawn’s arms. 

“I can’t do this again.”

“I know,” Thrawn soothed. “Has it been difficult?”

“Very. Let’s… There’s got to be a way to prevent this. Next time let’s just get stranded together. I’m totally okay with having to be your spouse if it means I can be exiled when you are,” Car’das said quietly. 

“I think that sounds…” Thrawn frowned darkly as he trailed off. “What happened to you, Jorj?”

Luckily the Emperor and his new Imperial guards clad entirely in red armor had made their way forward to join them by that point, and Car’das didn’t have to answer the question. 

If Palpatine was displeased by the display of interspecies affection, he was doing an excellent job of keeping the sentiment to himself. Several Imperials were not so capable of keeping their faces blank, but they were in the minority. 

For his part, the Emperor shook Thrawn’s hand, expressed his profound pleasure to finally meet him, and welcomed him to the Empire. 

Thrawn bowed politely, then they conversed for quite some time and eventually continued doing so over an early supper. The Emperor talking of his plans and Thrawn talking about his after relating the series of misadventures that had made up the entirety of his stay on the uninhabited planetoid the Chiss had selected for him.

Car’das joined them since he didn’t want to let Thrawn out of his sight, but contributed little and ate even less. He was content to listen just as he was eager to hold the Chiss’ hand when it was resting on the table. 

Once they were alone, he pulled the former commander into another hug and rested his head on Thrawn’s shoulder, inhaling deeply and relaxing for the first time in days. Or months. It had been a long and trying separation. 

Thrawn exhaled slowly, kissing lightly at Car’das’ hair. “Explain.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Well, I missed you.”

Thrawn laughed. “Sweet boy. I have spent weeks without you. I am eager to have you touch me and touch you in return for days on end.”

Car’das moved back a little and yawned. “Good. Because I wasn’t going to apologize.”

The Chiss gently lifted Car’das’ chin up with two blue fingers so they could look at one another properly. “I don’t need you to explain the kiss, which was perfectly appropriate and gratifying in every way. I need you to explain the cut on your lip and the dark circle lurking right under your collar.”

“The result of a misunderstanding with a co-worker basically.”

“And the co-worker is where exactly?”

“Let it go, Thrawn.”

“You cannot make our relationship entirely public, refuse to be parted from me even for something as trivial as a dinner, and ask to be exiled with me only to then expect me to ignore something like this. You were harmed.”

“This isn’t so bad. It could have been much worse.”

Thrawn cursed in Cheunh as he examined Car’das’ neck. Car’das had no idea what he meant, he knew it was something disparaging. “I shouldn’t have left you here. What sort of people are these? I thought you said—”

“It was just one guy. It’s not everyone here. I like just about everyone else. Besides, worse things have happened.”

“To you? In recent months?”

“No, relax,” Car’das insisted. “All of this happened last night, Thrawn. I doubt it’ll happen again.”

“Explain, Jorj.”

There was no chance of him switching topics when Thrawn was like this so eventually Car’das relented with a sigh. “I had an argument with one of the Jedi Knights who defected and who is probably defective. Like I said, it doesn’t matter.”

“I might have known it was a Jedi,” Thrawn murmured. “I heard they were gone for the most part.”

“Well, one of them is very much here. Darth Vader who used to be Anakin Skywalker. Not that you know who Anakin Skywalker is.”

“Darth Vader? Emperor Palpatine’s second in command?”

“I don’t know about that, but they’re close. He’s pretty high up in terms of ranking.”

“What is his purpose?”

“Someone has to kill the rest of the Jedi, I guess.”

Thrawn looked disgusted. “What an ugly business. Why would he take offense to you?”

“We met once before. He… lost the person he loved and I haven’t. It pissed him off.”

“I sincerely hope I am not expected to work with him in close proximity.”

“I don’t see why you would.”

“Then I suppose the matter is settled provided you understand that I expect you to rest until that mark fades.”

“I’m fine though,” Car’das protested, but he didn’t really mind being gently ushered in the direction of his bed. He curled up instead, smiling a bit when Thrawn wrapped his arms around him and buried his blue nose in the crook of Car’das’ neck. 

“That remains to be seen,” the Chiss murmured. “I’ll need to conduct a more thorough examination in the morning.”

“I’m so glad you’re here. I said that right?”

“This will be the ninth reminder of the evening.”

“Sorry.”

“No, I am pleased. I did not doubt you would feel this way, but I was concerned that you might not be immediately happy to see me.”

“It’s been months.”

“And I am sorry for that. I regret the way I sent you back here. I regret sending you back here at all as it turns out, but my people will scarcely give me a warm welcome ever again and there is a lot of good I can do here.”

“It’ll be better now that you’re here.”

“I sincerely hope so.”

Car’das turned around so that they could kiss and so he could rest his head against Thrawn’s shoulder again. “I don’t mind it here. I don’t following you where ever you need to go, Thrawn. What I hated was that I didn’t even know if they’d ever get around to finding you. I don’t want to be left behind again.” 

The Chiss was silent for quite some time. Car’das had almost drifted off by the time he said, “From now on, I will always take you with me then. For as long as the choice is mine to make.”

This was not the answer the Corellian had been hoping for, not exactly, but it wasn’t the worst compromise they could reach. 

“Thank you,” he quietly murmured, and after checking once more to make sure Thrawn was as close to him as possible, Car’das finally allowed himself to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not done with this AU, really. Not by any means. I definitely plan on writing a sequel or several sequels about what happened after this. For me if for no one else.
> 
> To those who did read it - Thank you! If you have any thoughts on what you'd like to see in a sequel, let me know.


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